Benson hearts "Diedo"

(Pictures taken by Jonae Cheger)

This silly little boy woke up crying this morning at 2:00 asking to watch "Diedo" (which means Diego). He LOVES Diego. I wouldn't let him watch it. I know I am a really mean mother, but I am not willing to give up my sleep so that my 22 month old can sit and watch some animal rescuer show where the main character's head is too big for his body. I got him a drink of water and brought him to my bed instead. Big mistake! He wouldn't go to sleep. I already have pregnancy insomnia (I went to bed last night around 10:30 but just can't shut my brain off for hours after I turn off the light) and adding a little boy to the bed who keeps reaching up to hug me or pat my face or stroke my hair didn't help (I know all of those things sound sweet in the day time, but not so at two in the morning). I finally made him go back to his bed (now close to 3-ish) because I was close to crying over lack of sleep. David carried him back to his bed, and he didn't cry or anything. He just lay there in his bed for about 15 minutes and then I hear the sweet pitter patter of little feet (not as sweet during he middle of the night again, but still sweet). He came and climbed back into my bed again and this time curled up to me and fell asleep almost immediately. I woke up with him still curled up against my back like a little kitten. After breakfast this morning I finally let him watch Diego. I got comfortable on the couch next to all the other kids and tried to catch a couple minutes of sleep while they watched (I am not a good mommy when I don't get enough sleep, it was necessary to try and get a little more). Benson climbed up next to me in my arms and within just a few minutes of watching his favorite show... he fell asleep. Guess he needed to catch up a little bit too.

My BFF

(Pictures taken by Jonae Cheger)

Dear Little Gracie Girl,

On Saturday we went to a primary activity at the church. We played in the water and rode bikes and you had a great time... until a couple of unkind children told you that you rode a baby bike (because you still had training wheels on your bike). After that you wouldn't ride your bike any more and you only wanted to hang out with the adults and it made me sad. Last night your Daddy took the training wheels off your bike and we went to the same parking lot and you learned how to ride your bike without them. You are so big and smart and cool and you are 5 years old and I forget a lot of times just how big you are getting. Kindergarten starts in a few weeks. You can read and count to 100 and write and you love computers and science and Littlest Pet Shops and Polly Pockets and pump your feet when you swing and now you can ride your bike too. Don't forget that you promised to be my BFF. Last night we wished on the "first star I see tonight" and that is what I wished for... for us to be BFFs for the rest of our lives. I sure love you chickadee.

Love,
Mom

after 9 years...

(Pictures taken by Jonae Cheger)

We have been married 9 years today, and look what we have to show for it! 3 almost 4 beautiful children, not to mention you are one heck of a doctor .
I love you David. You have been an amazing father and husband. I need you in my life every day. Thanks for choosing me.

Sammy

(Pictures taken by Jonae Cheger)

David's cute cousin took some pictures of our family when David graduated. These are a few of the pictures she took of Sammy. I just love his smile and funny personality.

***Warning***Warning***Warning*** Poop and piddle info coming up... stop reading if you think it is TMI!


Sammy is going to "poop school" right now. That is where you learn to poop in the potty (and piddle too). He used to want a "potty train." He didn't want to be potty trained he just wanted a potty train... you know like a train-train... like chugga chugga choo choo train. But now we are sending him to "poop school" and he is pretty excited about it. He has been struggling off and on with this for a little while. I can get him to "go" any time I put him on the toilet, but he would never tell me he needed to go. Well today, a friend of Gracie's invited her over for the day. I thought it was a perfect time to take Sammy's underwear off and see what happened. About 5 minutes later he pooped on the carpet. Lovely. This was after he had pooped in his underwear and piddle in a couple of other pairs as well as dropped his clean ones in the toilet. Wonderful day... But then he got it!!! after pooping on the carpet once he has run to the potty all by himself all afternoon when ever he needed to go (helped along by lots of caprisuns and juice and a little diareah that just happened to come along on the perfect day). We have turned a corner. I know we will still have plenty of accidents, but I am so happy that he is starting to figure it out that I could seriously throw a party... if my house didn't smell like piddle and if my little boy wasn't running around naked on the bottom. Guess we will have our own little party.

Buckets of fun!

I bought each of my kids a big bucket for sorting laundry in at Walmart for $5. Turns out to be the best $5 I ever spent. Not only do they keep my laundry organized, they have turned into great swimming pools...

(Benson just carries the water from one bucket to the other... he isn't much into getting into the buckets)

(another one of Benson not in a bucket, but he is just so darn cute)
These buckets are also the best seat in the house for watching a movie.

I haven't been able to get it on camera yet, but the buckets are also good for climbing into while they are on their side and then rolling in, as well as putting on your head and walking around like a robot (I don't really know why they think they are robots when they have buckets on their heads but whatever...). Seriously they have been awesome. I want some more, but when I went back to get some they were gone. Guess everyone else figured out how much fun they can be too.

Crusty

Benson has perfected the art of giving a crusty. Would you quit glaring at me kid!

Here fishy fishy fishy!

We went fishing for the 24th of July. David loves fishing and thought it would be really fun to share it with the kids. But boy did we pick the WRONG day! I think we picked the hottest day of the year so far!! We thought we would be going somewhere that we could fish for a while and then let the kids get wet to cool off for a while, but there was no swimming aloud at the lake. :(

The kids became disenchanted with the fishing when no fish were biting (another fisher person told us we were using the wrong bait and that really it was just too hot) and soon found some ducks to feed Cheetos to. We hope no ducks have heart attacks as a result eating too many Cheetos.

Just look at these HOT kids!

Since we couldn't swim, we soon resorted to splashing while looking for turtles and fish. Sammy is sure he touched a turtle or a crocodile (he wasn't sure which).

It was a fun way to spend a few hours on Pioneer day. I think David was a little disappointed that the kids didn't love fishing more. I was so hot and pregnant that I could barely breath! Hopefully next time it won't be quite so hot and maybe we will have a fish or two to show for our efforts.

Ducks:1 - Kids:0

We went for a Sunday drive last night and found this very picturesque park. It made me think of a puzzle or a post card or something.

The kids had a really great time chasing ducks.


David thought it might be cruelty to animals, but I thought it was only cruelty if the ducks got caught.


They just waddled away over to the pond and into the water where the kids couldn't get them.


I figure it was probably good exercise for the ducks... and the kids.

Gracie got a blister on her foot and was very sad.

Sammy found a great feather.

Chasing ducks is hard work!

Next time ducks... next time.

Green Smoothie Mustache

I have been giving my kids a "green" smoothie almost every day for the past couple of months. I throw a couple of cups of spinach in with some fruit and yogurt and juice and my kids love it! It makes them happy because they think it is a treat, and it makes me happy because they are eating vegetables. They even know that the spinach is in there. "Mom are you putting salad in our smoothie again?" And they still drink it. Yes it looks like baby poop, but they don't care, in fact the greener the color (it looks more green when the fruit is all light colored) the better Sammy likes it. :) A few days ago, they were sitting enjoying their smoothies and each one had a cute smoothie mustache. Love it!

Is there another doctor in the house?

David thinks it would be really cool if one of his kids became a doctor like him, so when Benson showed some interest in David's stethascope the other day what did David do?

Why, re-enforce such good behavior with ice cream of course (no pressure though Benson... you can be whatever you want when you grow up).

a GREAT day!

David's grandparents came to visit us for the 4th of July on their way to Rhode Island for the summer. They could only stay for a couple of hours, but it was so fun to see them. Gracie loved giving them a tour of our house and Sammy and Benson loved Grandpa's shiny pennies. We are so happy when the GREAT Grandparents get to come around!

We love you Great Grandma Ro and Great Grandpa Jack!